This is part 2 of this story. Part 1 is HERE.

After my shift, I decided to go to Jimmy’s Corner on 44th street for a few drinks with some of my coworkers. I figured if I was going to spend the night in a train station, I needed some liquid courage.

I threw my 50 lb. backpack against the wall, and sat for two hours and drank vodka cranberries. At 3:00am, I decided it was time to head to Penn Station.

My train was leaving at 10:45am, and I had plenty of time. I meandered down the 10 deserted blocks in the cold winter night, and found myself in a mostly deserted train station. I laid my backpack down on the ground (in the same locale as the picture above), put my wallet in my front pocket, laid down on the cold floor, and passed out.

After an hour of soundly sleeping, I was awoken by two police officers yelling at me to wake up while kicking my backpack. I sat right up, and asked them what the issue was as I rubbed my tired eyes.

“You can’t sleep here.”, the cop yelled.

“Well what am I supposed to do? I can’t get home to Queens!”, I said.

“You can stay here, just don’t fall asleep. If we come back and you are sleeping, you are going to have to leave.”

It was about 5:00am and I felt delirious. I was so exhausted, but I couldn’t fall asleep again. It was best that I didn’t.

The next 5 hours passed slowly, as I watched the weirdos walk around Penn Station, listened to the Christmas music playing over the loud speakers. Finally around 7am, the station became more crowded and I was able to grab myself a cup of coffee. Then at 10am, with 45 minutes left, I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth.

When I left the bathroom, I sat down on the ground anxiously awaiting for the sign to announce what gate we were at. As soon as I boarded the train, I knew I would pass out.

Then at 10:30 the sign next to my train changed. But instead of telling us what gate it was leaving from, it just said DELAYED.